This invention has particular application in solutions that are of low pH and is particularly relevant in mining and industrial process streams. Typically, solutions produced by mining and industrial processes produce solutions with a heavy concentration of a range of metal cations and which are highly acidic. Under these conditions, most metal cations are soluble and do not precipitate in solutions of low pH. In order to recover the metals and sulfate, these solutions would conventionally be treated by neutralization using a pH adjusting reagent. However, due to the high acid concentration of these solutions, depending on the specific metal cation, the acid concentration would generally need to be reduced by between 100 fold and 100,000 fold in order for the metal cation to precipitate. This may either then require thickening, dewatering or filtering processes or levels of neutralizing agent such that recovery is not practical or commercially viable.